Fire-escape



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. LOWENSTEIN, FIRE ESCAPE.

Patented June 20, 1893.

INVENTOI? WITNESSES A 770/?NE V8.

4 Sheets8heet 2.

A TTORNEYS.

(No Model.) I G. LOWENSTEIN.

FIRE ESCAPE.

No. 500,018. Patented June 20, 1893.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3..

G. LOWENSTEIN.

FIRE ESCAPE. No. 500,018. Patent-ed June 20, 1893.

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VII/IA A w/TNEssEs INVENTOR A TTOHNE YS.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GOTI-IARD LOVVENSTEIN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 500,018, dated June 20,1893. Application filed June 17, 1892. Serial No. 437,010r (N0 model.)

T0 at whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GOTHARD LOVVENSTEIN,

of Brooklyn, in the county of. Kings and State- .of New York, haveinvented a new and use- To these ends, myinvention consists in theconstruction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of,this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a building with the improvement inplace thereon and adjusted for service. Fig. 2 is a side view, brokenand in section, of a building with the fire escape on it adjusted foruse, the section being indicated by the line 2-2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is aside view, broken and in section,

, of a building having the improved fire escape on it, adjusted forservice, the line of section being shown at 33 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is anenlarged side view, broken and in section, of the upper part of abuilding, and the improved fire escape, the section being taken on theline 22 in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detached view of a detail of constructionthat is part of the improvement. Fig. 6 is an enlarged side View, brokenand in section, of the upper part of a building, and the fire escapepartly in section taken on the line 3.3 inFig. 1. Fig. 7 is a frontView, broken andin section, of the upper part of a building, and part ofthe fire escape thereon,having other parts removed and broken away, theline of section being indicated at 77 in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 isa detachedfront side view of the device shown in Fig. 5, opposite the arrow 8-, insaid figure;

and Fig. 9 is a detached'view of a modified form of the detail ofconstruction shown in The improved fire escape consists of a flexi bleladder, made preferably of two chains or, having a length which isproportioned to the height of the building whereon the improvement isplaced, and transversely andat proper distances apart, a series ofsimilar metal rungs a, are secured by their ends to the ladder sides a,retaining thelatter properly separated and parallel.

Upon the top of a building A, whereon the fire escape it to be placed, adrum 1), is rotatably supported by two spaced upright standards b, whichhave a loose engagement at their upper ends, with the journal shaft 19of the drum,a crank handle 19 on one end of said shaft affording meansto rotate the drum and wrap up the ladder, which is affixed at its upperend thereto as shown at (L in Figs. 1 and 2. The end portion of the drumshaft b which is opposite to that whereon the crank handleb is affixed,projects beyond the supporting standard at that end of the drum,sufficiently to receive a pinion c, which is secured upon it; andbetween the standard and drum a ratchet wheel 0, is affixed on theshaft, the teeth of which hook toward the front of the building on thetop side of the wheel, so that a pawl 0 that is pivoted to the innerside of the standard b, near its front edge will be adapted to interlockwith the teeth of the wheel, and prevent its rotation in a directionthat would unwrap the ladder. The pawl 0 has a draft chain or wire cordd, attached to it above its pivot support, said chain being outwardlyand downwardly extended preferably through a guide tube at, that extendsfrom above the roof down through all the rooms of the build- .ing alongor near their front wall and at a proper point in each room aperforation is made in the tube d, to allow a pull piece (P, to projectthrough and be adapted for manipulation. It is evident that sudden draftstrain applied at any point in the length of the chain d, will trip thepawl 0 and allow the wrapped ladder a, a, to descend, a weight e,affixed to the lower end of the ladder insuring a speedy travel of' thesame downwardly, and serving to keep it stretched. The pawl is normallypressed into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 0, by afinger spring 0 the lower end'of which isattached to a standard 1), nearits base. Upon the same standard a spring a, is secured, which projectsupwardly on the side of the standard nearest to the pinion c, and hasits upper portion bent toward the pawl that it engages with afterpassing through a hole in the standard I). When the pawl c ,.is inmeshed engagement with the wheel 0, the end of the spring a, will restupon the side of the pawl and not interfere with its action. Should thelatter be retracted from the ratchet wheel by draft strain put upon thechain d, the-outward movement of the pawl will permit the bent endportion of the spring a, to project through the standard I), and engagethe inner surface of the pawl so as to prevent its contact with thewheel 0.

There is by preference a hood B, provided to cover the drum 1), the hoodhavingahinge at its rear lower edge which will allow the hood to bethrown back from over the drum. The drum is provided with a circularflange b at each end to retain the wrapped ladder in proper alignmentwith a guide trough f, that is seated on the building, and bendsforwardly and downwardly to deliver the ladder at a proper distance fromthe front of a tier of. windows, when the ladder is unwrapped by gravityand slides upon the trough as indicated by Figs. 2 and 4. An integralportion of the guide trough f, is projected rearwardly and upwardly as aspring, which part f bears upon the flanges b, so as to retain the drum1), from too free a rotation.

It is desirable to hold the ladder a, a, projected away from the windowsbefore which it is pendent when in service, so that persons usingit maytraverse its length upon the side nearest to the windows from which theymay escape in case of tire. To this end a folding prop piece is bypreference employed for each window. As shown detached in Figs. 5 and 8,the prop-piece consists of a hollow rung g having arms g, of properlength projected from its ends in the same direction and parallel witheach other. The ends of the arms 9', on each prop piece are pivotedoppositely upon the sides of the window frame at a properdistance fromthe window sill so that the rung g, may be folded upwardlyand be housedbehind a pendent flap h, at the, top of the window frame, or whenlowered project outwardly and engage the side chains a, of the ladder,as represented in Figs. 2, 3 and 4;. Mechanism is provided to lock theprop rungs g, in a nearly upright position, soprojected outwardly thatwhen released they will allsimultaneously fall into' horizontal planes;such an adjustment being effectedatthe time the ladder is released andfalls into a pendent condition, or immediately after the ladder hasbecomeentirely unwrapped and hangsin front of the tier of windows itisto provide an escapejfrom. a

The locking device-mentioned consists of a rock shaft 2' for eachwindow, located transverse] y in a box formed at the top of the windowcasement, and loosely supported so that these shafts may be rockedtogether by an upward pull upon a chain 70, or similar flexibleattachment, that is connected to the free ends of crank armsz",oue ofthe latter named being secured upon a corresponding end of eachrock-shaft t', as represented in Figs. 3 and 6. i

The prop rungs are n'otched at such points as will allow-the notchedportions to embrace the chains a,that are the sides of the ladder, sucha connection of parts being effected when the rungs. fall from anelevated position outwardly and downwardly as before mentioned.

At thecenter of each tubular rung g, a catch-bar g isformed in it bycutting away the wall of the rungat two opposite points leaving thebar-between them.

On each rock shaft 'i, a curved catch hook 11 is formed that isadaptedto interlockwiththe catch i bar 9 of a hollow rung g, and retainthe latter in elevated adjustment as shown in Fig. 4.. I

There is a journal. stud m, projected from the side of the standard b,nearest to the pinion c, which stud rotatably supports the gear wheel m,that is meshed with the pinion; such a proportion being bad with regardto the diametersand number ofteethinthe wheel and pinion,lengthof theladder, and diameter of the drum which receives the latter, that whenthe ladderis released by draft on the chain d, and descends to theground, or baseline of the house, the gear wheel m i will make a singlerevolution. Upon the standard 1), below the journal stud m, an arm 'n,is outwardly projected in a parallel plane with said stud, and serves asa pivot support for a weighty tripping arm 0. The upper end portion ofthe tripping arm lies in the path of an abutmentcar 0' on the side ofthe gear wheel Til/ S0 that thearm willbe vibrated by an impinge of theear upon its upper end, at each revolution of the wheel named. j Thedraft chain 70, before mentioned, is preferably incased in a tubeandextends above the building roof so as to haveitsend attached to .thelower endof the tripping arm 0, there being lateral flexible branches kprojected from this draft chain toward the crank arms 1'', and connectedtherewith; and for the proper operation of the device it is essentialthat thearms i should be upright or nearly so, when the hooks t' areinterlocked with the prop-rungs g.

Preferably the tubular proprungs are provided with spring pressed slidebolts 9 which will be automatically looked upon the ladder is lowered,and thus prevent the ladder from displacement when all parts of the fireescape are in condition for use.

The several prop pieces g, have theirlimbs g, notched, on the sidenearest to the window easements when said props are in an uprightposition, and locking dogs 9 are pivoted by one end on the sides of theeasements so as to drop and interlock with the notches in the limbs whenthe latter assume a nearly horizontal position, as indicated in Fig. 4,by dotted lines; full lines showing the dogs held up by the limbs whenthe prop pieces are ver tically adjusted.

In Fig. 9,amodified form of the prop pieces is shown, each consisting ofa bar of metal bent to produce a rung p, and two parallel limbs 19', onsaid rung, the limbs being secured on the window casement to projectoutwardly. On the inner side of the rung p, bent pieces 19 are securedby one end, their other ends engaging the limbs 19, and between thesepieces a loop 19 is affixed leaving spaces 10, which will embrace theladder sides a, when these are in lowered adjustment, said props beingat such points on the casements as will best sustain the ladder when 1nuse.

To prepare the device for use, the ladder is wrapped upon the drum b,and so held by the ratchet wheel and its pawl, and the prop pieces gwith their limbs g, are folded upwardly and locked in such a position bythe hooks 2' on the rock shafts t'.

If it is necessaryto put the fire escape ladder in service, it is onlyneeded to pull any one of the pull pieces d of the chain d, which willrelease the pawl of the ratchet wheel that controls the drum 1), andthus permit the ladder a, a, to descend rapidly, and when it reaches theground the impact of the ear 0, on the wheel m, upon the upper end ofthe arm 0, will vibrate said arm rearwardly at the lower end, andproduce draft strain through the chain 70 upon the arms 2'', and

' rock the shaftt' and hooks t so as to release the prop rungs g, whichwill fall outwardly and downwardly, and interlock with the sides a, ofthe ladder as before explained, thus rendering the ladder stable, andaffording a safe means for the descent of persons from any window beforewhich the ladder is pendent.

It will be seen, that when the ladder is wrapped upon the drum 5, andthe prop pieces g, folded upwardly and concealed behind the pendentflaps h, there will be nothing unsightly exposed; while all parts of thefire escape are ready for instant adjustment for service by 'sim plydrawing upon the chain at, in any room of a building through which saidchain passes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters flanged drum rotatable on abuilding, a flexible laddersecured to the drum and wrapped thereon, and a locking device for theladder adapted to release it when manipulated from within the building,of a series of pivoted prop-pieces for the ladder, each composed of ahollow shaft and two arms thereon, a journaled rock shaft above eachhollow shaft and having a hook adapted to interlock with an integral barof said hollow shaft when the prop pieces are folded upwardly, lockingdogs that fall and engage shoulders on the arms of the prop-pieces whenthese arms are horizontal, and flexible connections pendent within thebuilding, that are attached by branches to the locking devices, and bymanipulation control the adjustment of said devices, substantially asdescribed.

'2. In a fire escape, the combination with a drum rotatably supported ona building, a flexible ladder on the drum, a device which holds theladder wrapped on the drum until said device is manipulated from withinthe building, of a series of upwardly folding proppieces each comprisingtwo arms and a cross bar, a rock shaft for each prop-piece rotatable onthe building wall near to the prop-piece, a hook on each rock shaftremovably engaging an adjacent cross-bar of a prop-piece to hold theprop-piece elevated, and means .to rock the rock shafts all at the sametime releasing all the prop-pieces to fall outwardly and engage theladder automatically upon descent of said ladder, substantially asdescribed.

3. In a fire escape, the combination with a rotatable drum on abuilding, a flexible ladder on the drum adapted to unroll and hangpendent before a tier of windows in the building, and a device whichretains the ladder wrapped on the drum until said device is manipulatedfrom a room of the building, of a series of similar prop-pieces eachhaving two arms joined by a transverse rung and pivoted to fall outwardand support the pendent ladder, and a locking device for each prop-piececonsisting of a rotatable rock shaft, a catch hook thereon, an arm onthe rock shaft, and a flexible connection from said arm extendingthrough an aperture in the build ing wall engaging the laddercontrolling device to simultaneously release the hooks of the rockshafts from the prop-pieces at the moment the ladder is finallyunwrapped,substantially as described.

4. In a fire-escape, a device for retaining a pendent flexible ladderwrapped on a drum and permitting of the release of said ladder when saiddevice is manipulated, consisting of a ratchet wheel on the shaft of thedrum that supports the ladder, a pivotally supported pawl for theratchet wheel, a spring pressing the pawl toward the ratchet wheel, alaterally pressing spring on the support for the drum, adapted to holdthe pawl retracted when draft strain is applied thereto, and apendentflexible connection engaging the'pawi said ladder, and sprig gpressed latch bolts to permit of its retraction, substantially as forthe proppiecesgadaptedto engage the described. 7 sides ofsaidlhdder;substanbiallyvassetforth.

'5. In a. fire-escapehaving awfiex-ible ladder GOTHARD LOWENSTEIN. 5adapted to hang pendent ona building se- Witnesses:

ries of proppiecesfor the flexible rladder, M. CLARK,

each being grooved to receive the sides of F.W.1*HA-NAF0RD.

